SIMI VALLEY, Calif.—Much like the man himself, Sunday's memorial service for late industry sales giant Howard Levine, who passed away June 26, had an air of unabashed irreverence, while maintaining the appropriate level of seriousness when called for.
Attended by many of Levine's closest cohorts within and outside of the adult industry—including Vivid Entertainment co-founder Steven Hirsch and sister Marci Hirsch, salesman David Peskin, director/performers Jessica Drake, Brad Armstrong, Lexington Steele and Mr. Marcus; retired performers Tori Welles and Melissa Hill, publicists Adella Curry and Brian Gross, producer Kelly Holland, novelty veteran Kim Airs, attorney Allan Gelbard and notorious celebrity sex tape broker Kevin Blatt, as well as an entire contingent from Levine's beloved motorcycle club Messengers of Recovery—the event was shot through with a spirit of lighthearted celebration co-mingled with bittersweet sorrow.
A series of tributes delivered in the chapel at Mount Sinai Simi Valley Memorial Park provided a wealth of insight on Levine's upbringing and the battle he fought over the past three and a half years with what started as lung cancer and spread to other parts of his body.
First up was Levine's older brother Jimmy, who revealed that Howard was the youngest of four siblings, garnering laughs by saying, "If you have a younger sibling, you know how mischievous and what a pain in the butt they can be."
After sharing a few anecdotes from Howard's early childhood, Jimmy related, "Howard was very artistic and creative. He was a magician for children's parties in the early teen years. He was a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, ranked 23 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a talented airbrush artist, sold pictures and T-shirts in the later teen years. He graduated from Vidal Sassoon hairstyling school and practiced that for awhile ... not on me, buddy. He was the master of ceremonies and warm-up comedian at the Comedy Store in San Francisco. He befriended many of the comedians that went on and performed elsewhere. He apprenticed in leather working and made some incredible wallets, belts and clothes. He loved rock ’n’ roll and was friendly with one of the members of the Bruce Springsteen band, and actually told me he had a drink with Bruce at a bar one time.
"Howard also had his weaknesses," Jimmy continued, "and showed, even at an advanced age later in your life, you can change. Howard has been clean and sober for over 14 years. What I'm most proud about is he volunteered to talk to high school children about drugs and alcohol. He also told me if they were a pain, he'd throw them out of the room.
"Howard was by our older brother's side as he fought cancer. He would come to the hospital, tell him stories, and have our brother in stitches," Jimmy went on. "I would like to let you know what Howard went though these last three and a half years. First off, Howard was always looking for an angle. When he first visited the City of Hope, he went to the doctor and said, 'Doc, do you give family discounts here?' They don't. He was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, which spread to his brain and colon. He endured chemotherapy, radiation, three brain surgeries, immunotherapy, full brain radiation, abdominal surgery, infections, long bouts of pain and suffering. He always spoke optimistically after these procedures. 'Hey Jimmy, I'm in remission.' Now, why would anyone go through what he went through? There's three reasons, and they're sitting right over here—the love for his wife Louise, his two children, Jessica and Justin. I'll end this how we ended our phone conversations: 'Love you, man.' 'Love you, bro.'"
The next to speak was Levine's nephew Ricky, who expanded on his uncle's background story with the observation, "Most of his salesman skills definitely came from my grandfather, who was the original tin man. He was able to hone that gift and gab unlike anyone. As I wrote this eulogy and read the hundreds of posts along with the articles in AVN and XBIZ, I realized a few things: My uncle was a legend, something I took for granted, because to me, he was just my uncle. If the phone rang, I answered it. If his phone rang, he answered it. He always had time for a great b.s. session. He was more than an uncle and more than family, he was a great friend, and with all great friends are great stories. ... Everybody that's sitting here I'm sure has a great Howard story. I'm sure we can write a book. There are some real crazy ones."
Ricky further noted, "He didn't care what people thought or what they would say about him. If he had something come into his mind that he was going to do, it was getting done, and it was getting done better than anyone else could do it. He was very talented in everything he did, and he was always available to lend a helping hand, even if it was something out of his realm. He definitely was not very handy—as a matter of fact, the last time I recall him trying to fix something, the power screwdriver went through his hand.
"We definitely lost one of the great ones," he concluded. "Please cherish the memories and laugh a little, because that is what he would want. ... Remember, it's not the years in your life, but the life in your years. By god, my uncle had a great life that he packed in a short 64 years."
Finally, Levine's best friend and fellow Messengers of Recovery member Chris Sweeney took the podium to share his thoughts: "So a nice Jewish boy from Cleveland and an Irish Catholic pseudo tough guy from Santa Monica walk into a clean and sober motorcycle club and become best friends. ... The first time I saw Howard was ironically at a memorial for one of our other brothers that had passed and we used to do a ride for him. Howard was wearing this half helmet with stickers all over it, John Lennon round sunglasses, a brightly colored Affliction T-shirt and these jeans that were embroidered on the back pocket with a peacock or a dragon or some thing that went all the way down to the back of the knee. I thought he looked a bit odd. I then asked someone, 'Who's that guy?' He replied, 'That's Howard. He's in the adult film business.' I thought to myself, 'Jeez ... I thought he was a dentist or something. If he's in the porn business, he can't be all that bad.'
"Howard was a great Messenger for over 10 years," Sweeney recounted. "He was the emcee at all of our events, and our designated negotiator. Whenever we needed a deal on a hotel or a raffle prize, we put Howard on it, and we always got good deals. ... Howard was gregarious. I looked that word up, and it said, 'sociable, liking companionship.' Howard loved people and he had no problem getting to know anyone. For those of you who don't know, I work at a car dealership; Howard would often come visit me at work, walking in with the chains hanging, earrings, the vest on, sneakers, he wore sneakers. And after visiting for awhile, I'd say, 'Howard, look, I gotta get some work done,' he'd say, 'OK, pal, see you later,' we'd hug it out, I'd think he was going home. I'd do some work around the place, and 45 minutes, I'd look out in the parking lot, his bike was still there. He would be visiting with the people that work with me that he'd come to know all of them. People that work with me, after hearing about Howard's passing, that I didn't even know knew him, said how sorry they were and how saddened they were by Howard's death. He was an amazing guy."
In closing, Sweeney said, "I'm going to miss Howard Levine, and I'm very sad, but I choose to be grateful today. ... I'm grateful for the relationship we now have and will continue with the Levine family. I'm grateful for all the loving memories I have with that bigger-than-life man. But most of all, I'm grateful to have had one last best friend. Howard, I love you, and I will always love you. Godspeed, Pee Boner!"
Following the service and burial ceremony, several of the attendees shared additional remembrances of Levine with AVN.
Commented Brian Gross, "I loved Howard very much. When I started at Vivid, my office was right across from him, so for almost two years, I got to hear every possible thing you'd hear from a classic salesman in the industry, and I appreciated everything that he did for me, every laugh, every cry, all the good stuff. So I'm very appreciative and I will miss him dearly."
Kevin Blatt remarked, "Howard was a very close friend of mine, he was the most selfless dude I've ever met—took me to my first AA meeting, and I realized when I went there I wasn't an addict at the end of the meeting. And I was like, 'This is not where I'm supposed to be.' But he was patient enough and he was kind of enough to say, 'Hey, you're going through a hard time, I'm here for you.' We would also share stories about how much the sex tapes were selling off the shelves, all the celebrity sex tapes in particular, and no matter what number he gave me, I had to [decrease] it by at least 64 percent, because whatever he was saying, it was 64 percent greater than what it really was. But he was the best salesman in the world."
David Peskin, who sold alongside Levine at Vivid for nine years, offered, "I was always 'Howard's guy Dave.' ... 'My guy Dave's gonna take good care of you.' And then he would come over 15 minutes later—'How much you get, Dave?' '10,000, How.' 'Good job, kid. You're the best, kid,' he used to say. He was his own entity. I was Dave from Vivid ... if I called, I would always tell them, 'It's Dave from Vivid.' Howard just used to dial, they'd pick up the phone, 'It's Howard.' That's all he had to say. 'It's Howard.' Or just, 'Tell 'em it's Howard,' and they came to the phone. ... Nine years—I couldn't wait, I used to look out the window, I couldn't wait 'til he got to the office every day. And you laughed all day long, and we did the business, and we loved what we did. He was my friend. I just loved him so much."
Last but not least, Melissa Hill, who continues to host the internet talk program Rawtalk she launched with Levine in 2015, recalled, "I met him when I was working for Vivid as a performer and I used to go into his office, and he would always go, 'Hill!' And he'd have his feet up on the desk with his—I always imagine him with his, like, green sweater and his golf clubs everywhere—and he'd have his feet up on the table, just like, 'Hill! What's going on?' And then I didn't see him again until 2014, and then he was all decked out in his chains and his skulls and his motorcycle, and I was like, 'What the heck happened to you?' Usually when people get sober, they go in the other direction, but not him, he went like hardcore biker, all that. And then when he approached me about wanting to do a radio show together, he thought we could be the next Burns and Allen. Because everyone called him an asshole, right, and I was nice and quiet and sweet at that time, and I thought for sure my qualities were going to rub off on him, but as we know, it was the opposite. His qualities rubbed off on me."
Levine and Melissa Hill in a promo pic for Rawtalk
She continued, "When he told me in January 2016 [about his diagnosis], I remember no one else knew except for his doctors and his family and him, because we were supposed to go to AVN to work the red carpet that year, and I debated if I should go or not. He urged me to go and swore me to secrecy, which was really difficult having to explain to everyone at AVN and some of the people that he distributed their product ... I think Paul Fishbein was the first person that I kind of told, not really, I just said, 'You need to call Howard.' And he was like, 'Well why, what's going on?' And I just said, 'You just need to call him, you should just call him,' and I just kept looking at him in the eye, telling him he needed to call him, so as soon as the convention was over and he went home and he called him, and he's like, 'I saw Melissa, she wouldn't tell me anything,' and he said, 'Yeah, 'cause I told her not to.'
"So anyway, that was my memory of him," she summed up. "He was a big geek. He loved our show. He loved Bruce Springsteen. And he loved Cameron Crowe. And he was an asshole, but he was a good asshole, with a heart. And I love him forever. And I can't even believe he's gone."
